Trent Boult and Tim Southee have enjoyed a successful partnership in the Black Caps. Photo / Photosport
Trent Boult and Tim Southee have enjoyed a successful partnership in the Black Caps. Photo / Photosport
Much will change before the Black Caps mount their next tilt at claiming a maiden ODI World Cup title.
There are questions over the format itself, with the ever-increasing domination of T20 cricket and the shifting landscape created by players seeking greater flexibility in their contract status.
Thereis the future of the coaching staff, with Shane Jurgensen’s departure leaving the Black Caps without a fulltime bowling coach and Gary Stead’s current deal concluding in mid-2025.
And then there’s the passage of time, with Rachin Ravindra the sole member of the Black Caps squad in India who will still be in his 20s at the next one-day World Cup in 2027.
Any clarity in those issues will remain elusive in the short term, considering the next several months will focus instead on the other forms of the game.
The Black Caps’ next action comes in a two-test series in Bangladesh, starting on November 28 and serving as a precursor to home contests against South Africa and Australia later in the summer.
Before those eye-catching assignments, they will have a heavy diet of T20 cricket against Bangladesh and Pakistan over the holiday season, as preparations begin for the next World Cup in June.
Stead’s side will play only three ODIs across the next few months, when Bangladesh begin their tour before Christmas, leaving the coach understandably reluctant to gaze too far into the future.
“It’s hard - I might not be coach or selector [by 2027],” he said. “You’ve got to imagine there will be some difference in the team. You’ve got guys who are certainly getting more toward the back-end of their career and it is a changing landscape around the world.
Gary Stead chats with Kane Williamson at the Cricket World Cup. Photo / Photosport
“There’s been talk about whether ODIs will be played in between World Cups or not, and they’re probably the discussions to be had first - what it actually looks like in the future. But I think the ODI game still has a really big part to play in world cricket.”
Stead was unconcerned about the advancing age of his World Cup squad, the focus of which was solely on the 2023 tournament. The coach had yet to discuss long-term plans with any of his senior core, but he believed that Ravindra’s emergence at the tournament in India showed the pathways to eventually replace those players were working as intended.
“I think age is irrelevant; it’s around performance, and you’re still seeing good performances from the Black Caps,” he said. “I don’t see it as the Black Caps’ job to future-proof what that side may look like in the future - that’s the job of our domestic cricket and New Zealand A programme.”
The seam group in particular will likely require some reconstruction given Trent Boult and Tim Southee are both 34, the former not centrally contracted and the latter not in the first-choice side.
Matt Henry (31) looms as the leader of the attack, with pace trio Lockie Ferguson (32), Adam Milne (31) and Kyle Jamieson (28) each regularly carrying fitness concerns.
In the last year the Black Caps have handed debuts to Jacob Duffy (29), Henry Shipley (27) and Ben Lister (27), while Wellington’s Ben Sears (25), Northern Districts’ Matthew Fisher (24) and Canterbury’s Will O’Rourke (22) have all displayed domestic potential.
Stead isn’t yet counting out Boult appearing again in a black shirt, though the left-armer will be unavailable until February through commitments with the Abu Dhabi T10 league and the International League T20 in the UAE.
